ISSUE ALERT: Alliance President Pat O’Toole to Present Before U.N. Workshop

Representing the farmer constituency on Thursday, October 14 at 9:00 AM PT

Family Farm Alliance President Patrick O’Toole, a sheep and cattle rancher from Wyoming, is one of a handful of international panelists who will be participating tomorrow on behalf of American farmers at a United Nations sponsored workshop on sustainable land and water management.

“I plan to talk about some of the fundamental principles that we practice in our part of the world, which extrapolates to the entire world of people who produce food,” said Mr. O’Toole. “We all work in the extremes of elements and volatile weather, and we share that love of the land. One thing we cumulatively share is seeing pressure on the water supply.”

The 90-minute panel begins at 9:00 a.m. (Eastern) Thursday, October 13, 2021. CLICK HERE to watch the broadcast.   

The topics of the United Nations (U.N.) workshop include sustainable land and water management, including integrated watershed management strategies, to ensure food security. Discussion will focus on strategies and modalities to scale up implementation of best practices, innovations and technologies that increase resilience and sustainable production in agricultural systems according to national circumstances.

“I’m very lucky to live in a ranching and farming community in a watershed on the headwaters of the distressed Colorado River,” said Mr. O’Toole. “We have worked for 30 years on building resilience, leading to some of the most significant watershed restoration and agricultural productivity projects in the country, as we work with federal and state partners.”

Mr. O’Toole represents the Family Farm Alliance on the board of the organization Solutions from the Land and he is a representative of North America Climate Smart Agriculture Alliance.

The U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established an international environmental treaty to combat “dangerous human interference with the climate system.” It was signed by 154 states at the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. The treaty called for ongoing scientific research and regular meetings, negotiations, and future policy agreements designed to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.

The UNFCCC in 2017, adopted a decision on the “Koronivia joint work on agriculture”, which requested scientific bodies to address issues related to agriculture, including through workshops, to address the vulnerabilities of agriculture to climate change and approaches to addressing food security.

Mr. O’Toole’s presentation will be made on behalf of the farmer constituency at part 2 of the Koronivia workshop. He will emphasize the importance of mentoring as a tool for solution building.

“We need to take the examples of those people who have successfully built resilience over years and use it to help train willing people who haven’t and who want to,” said Mr. O’Toole. “We all must become more adaptable and open to change. We must learn from those who have experience.”